


It Burns

by AbbyWritesTrash



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Anger, Angst, Bad Ending, Bittersweet, Character Death, Drabble, Feeling realisation, Hatred, It could have been beautiful, M/M, Opposite of a fix-it, Riots, Sadness, Unhappy Ending, drabble?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 19:37:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16980543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbyWritesTrash/pseuds/AbbyWritesTrash
Summary: RK900, Nines, had been the first, and the only.





	It Burns

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled; 'I'm sad so everybody else should be sad, too.'  
> Only a drabble, but I needed to write something, no matter how heartbreaking.

Gavin doesn’t like finding himself in a place of vulnerability. Since childhood, his whole personality has revolved around the idea that if he managed to push people away first, he would never be left alone, with his own thoughts and his own inner turmoil. Gavin had lead a lonely life up until this point, keeping one friend by his side while managing to even hide from them all of his own thoughts and feelings, creating a waterfall of lies and secrets that managed to cascade down upon him whenever he was left alone. 

RK900, Nines, had been the first, and the only. 

It hadn’t been easy stumbling to the edge of the cliff before being thrown off completely. It hadn’t been fun, hadn’t been simple, but it was however filled with adrenaline, fire and fury - a blistering heat that would consume Gavin from the inside out and burned anybody who would dare to walk too close. 

Nines was a hurricane, the first to return every cruel and hurtful remark, the first to fight Gavin’s fire with his own blazing heat hidden behind steal eyes and an indestructible form that, somehow, managed to feel soft and warm beneath Gavin’s palms. Bones stronger than metal encased in lies of velvet soft flesh, a mind so sharp that it could predict thousands of actions in a millisecond and rank them in likelihood before Gavin could so much as blink. 

Nines had been Gavin’s undoing. He’d been the one to slowly unravel wires of tangled lies and misconceptions, unpicking toxic masculinity and vulnerability through to his core only to rewire Gavin completely. To rebuild him, to fix him, to build him again from the inside out. 

He’d spent so much time being angry. He was angry at Nines, angry at the people around him, angry at the world because he’d been brought up that way, with a visceral hunger that never dissipated and a never ending sense of not being enough. He’d been assessed numerous times, but even then the cacophony of lies had managed to reach a trained therapists ears and had quelled her doubts. He’d gotten so good at it. Too good. 

The breaking point had been several perfectly timed events, none that could have been predicted, not even by Nines all-seeing processors. 

It had started with a riot. 

The blaze of the Detroit's streets could be seen for miles and even a week after the attack, the smell of burning plastic had still permeated the air. A heartless act, a troupe of hackers with too much time on their hands and a group of humans who could never understand the impact of their own hatred. It had been godless, fuelled by rage. The passing of several new laws had spurred the plan, Nines had muttered beneath his breath about the human race’s obsession with politics, and Gavin had tried not to wince when he entered the crime scene, pulling his shirt up over his nose to shield himself from the smell. His eyes had watered when he’d seen the heap, more than 10 androids semi melted against the concrete, some deactivated and others left to suffer. Gavin had pretended that he couldn’t read Nines’ face, his facial expressions deactivated and his LED circling red periodically before blinking back to yellow. 

Gavin should have told him that he cared - the second fuse. 

It was tense, whatever they had created between them. Talking would never be their strong suit, not with two minds so unbelievably stubborn, but screaming Gavin was good at. He was good at throwing himself around, destroying once meaningful pieces of art, shattering glass and turning all he felt into rage. Nines was good at riling him up, watching him self destruct and then waiting for the tantrum to be over, but Nines’ own patience could only stretch too far. 

Gavin had relished in the release after, but Nines had left the apartment. 

Another thing Gavin was good at was sulking. He could wait out any situation due to complete stubbornness, but a usually easy three days of radio silence had proved too much, proof that Nines had meant something more even before Gavin had considered it. 

He should have considered it -

But only a tributary of blue blood plastered against pavement had made Gavin consider it at all. 

A distressed call from a fellow officer had been the final trigger. Gavin had taken his car to the texted address and had exited the vehicle before it had stopped moving. His fragile human heart had been pumping furiously since his phone had rung, and the rushing of blood sounding against the inside of his skull was deafening. His fingers twitched and burned, the blistering cold of Detroit’s December biting at the sensitive skin even as his body temperature continued to climb. 

He’d taken a deep breath before turning the corner. 

Gavin wouldn’t forget the exact shade of blue, nor the white speckled flakes of snow as they began to fall against once velvet soft skin, now only a shell of grayscale. 

Gavin had always thought that a red LED had been bad news, but now, as he looks at who was once his friend, his lover, he would give anything to see a blinding red instead of a lifeless, unlit circle. 


End file.
